University rated second best in the Midwest by U.S. News & World Report

The 2008 edition of 'America's Best Colleges' includes Xavier for 13th straight year | August 17, 2007

For the 13th straight year, Xavier ranks among the top 10 Midwest colleges and universities, according to the U.S. News & World Report rankings released today.

The 2008 edition of "America’s Best Colleges" ranks Xavier No. 2 among 140 Midwest colleges and universities. Creighton University in Omaha, Neb., took the No. 1 spot.

“This ranking is always a proud moment for us,” says Michael J. Graham, S.J., president of Xavier University. “U.S. News looks at such a wide range of factors, including student scores, alumni giving, freshman retention rate and graduation rate. I give credit across the board to our students, faculty, staff and alumni for all contribute to achieving our mission to prepare students intellectually, morally and spiritually with rigor and compassion toward lives of solidarity, service and success.”

The magazine ranks colleges and universities in 11 broad categories including freshman retention rate, graduation rate, and student to faculty ratio. Creighton was in the top spot in the Midwest with 100 points. Xavier earned 93 points and Valparaiso was third with 89 points.

With an 89 percent freshmen retention rate, Xavier was No. 1 in that category in the Midwest for the fifth year in a row and is among the top 10 in that category nationwide for schools ranked in the master’s category.

In the category of highest graduation rate, Xavier also ranked No. 1 in the Midwest with 78 percent. And Xavier tied with Creighton for highest alumni giving rate in the Midwest with 27 percent.

Xavier also ranked high in the U.S. News & World Report analysis of “Great Schools, Great Prices,” which looks at a school’s value based on academic quality and the cost to attend. Xavier was ranked sixth in the Midwest in that category. Last year, Xavier ranked 9th.

In all, 549 colleges and universities are ranked in the master’s category in four separate regions. These institutions provide a full range of undergraduate and master’s programs, but few doctoral programs. The universities that ranked in the four master’s categories include 20 of the 28 Jesuit universities. Twelve of them, including Xavier, ranked in the top 10 of their region.

A detailed report on scores may be found at the U.S. News & World Report web site at www.usnews.com.
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